Seoul to implement its own social distancing regulation

Newly elected Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Monday that the city will devise its own quarantine regulations to minimize the prolonged Covid-19’s negative impacts on small businesses.

"We will change the paradigm to a win-win quarantine system that can protect people's livelihood and quarantine, rather than a uniform regulated quarantine that forces the sacrifices of self-employed and small business owners," Oh said during an online Covid-19 briefing held by the city government.

As part of his plan, Oh urged the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to approve the use of self-diagnostic Covid-19 kits promptly and stressed that the city would also review the implementation of a pilot project for rapid antigen test devices.

Oh also announced the city government's plans to establish its own social distancing manual.

The move comes amid growing complaints from small businesses suffering from financial difficulties due to the central government’s strict business restrictions.

Small business owners have been strongly protesting the country's tough social distancing scheme claiming that the government's guidelines have been unfair, inconsistent, and confusing.

"We will prepare a manual by this weekend, and next week we will start discussing with the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters about how and when to implement the new measures," he said.

According to Seoul city officials, the mayor plans to enable practical and flexible business hours, instead of the current blanket bans on businesses after 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. regardless of industry.

For example, the city might ease regulations on business hours until 12 a.m. for certain drinking facilities, such as Izakaya and entertainment pubs, 11 p.m. for poker pubs and pubs, and 10 p.m. for nightclubs.

With Oh announcing his plans to implement a measure solely for the metropolitan area, central government officials and experts have raised concerns about potential policy inconsistency and confusion among the public.

The health authorities said sanctions at entertainment facilities are an inevitable measure to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

"As we have seen in the case of Busan or Gangnam-gu, it is difficult to wear a mask in an entertainment facility," Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said. "Also, many visitors at such facilities tend to stay in the enclosed space for a long period, while authorities have also confirmed some businesses are opening their facilities illegally."

An Infectious disease expert also agreed.

"At this time, it will not be good for Seoul to promote its own distancing measures," Professor Kim Woo-joo of the Department of Infectious Disease at Korea University Guro Hospital said. "Although the Seoul Metropolitan Government has yet to unveil its plans, we are currently at war with the Covid-19 virus where the number of patients has recently been increasing, and the number of deaths continues to rise."

It is not time to conduct an experiment, he added.

Kim stressed that it is necessary to find a scientific method by looking at the data and cases accumulated through the past viral waves that has been ongoing for the past year and three months.

To dispel worries about policy inconsistency and confusion, Oh explained that the city would remain in close consultation with the central government even for running a pilot program.

Oh also stressed that the city would develop a plan to further strengthen quarantine responsibilities and obligations by applying a one-strike-out policy for businesses that violate the quarantine rules.

"If we start implementing the Seoul-type distancing manual, it will be possible to extend business hours reflecting the characteristics of each industry, creating a great synergy effect and setting a whole new era in the quarantine system," Oh said.

Also, the government said it would resume its inoculation program for AstraZeneca's vaccine from Monday.

The health authorities had temporarily suspended the use of the AZ vaccine for people under age 60, special education instructors, and school nurses due to blood clot concerns.

The authorities, however, said that they will still exclude those aged 30 and younger as the risks of suffering blood clots still outweigh the benefits of vaccination.

The government will postpone vaccination for around 640,000 people aged 30 and younger who planned to receive the AZ jab during the second quarter.

The KDCA plans to adjust its second-quarter inoculation plan by utilizing the volume earlier allocated for younger recipients.

Korea's Covid-19 cases fell back below 600 for the first time in six days on Monday, owing mainly to reduced tests over the weekend.

KDCA said it confirmed 587 new patients, including 560 local infections, raising the cumulative caseload to 110,146 as of midnight Sunday. However, imported infections increased from 20 to 29.

The death toll stayed at a single-digit figure as the KCDA reported two more fatalities, pushing the death toll to 1,770 with a fatality rate of 1.61 percent. The number of fully recovered patients in Korea has also surpassed 100,000 as of Sunday, with the country's total cured patient tally standing at 100,804 as of Monday. The country has tested 8,152,783 people since Jan. 3 last year.